White Sands cont'd
OK so I live near White Sands (see below post), go past it every once in a while, and in fact went past in on Saturday to go see my son in Las Cruces. So we stopped there and I went in to talk to the ranger. The girls waited in the car with the dog hoping I would bring sodas out, which I did. I asked the ranger, "What's up with the footprints?"He pulled out a map of the park and said the footprints were indeed found in the park, and were 22,000 years old. Apparently they set their foot into some loose mud, something else came in and filled in the gaps, and whatever that was, was only recently uncovered and is now peacefully eroding away. It was well before the age of the gypsum sand; that came much later, and in fact didn't have much to do with it.
He said it was definitely teenagers and younger kids. But he also said that there were layers of footprints - the ones 22000 years old were the oldest, but there were plenty others. It was a well-worn path, somewhat narrow, and it went along the edge of a lake, which he called Lake Otero. Things were different then - it was a lot wetter, just for starters.
It's hard to imagine New Mexico wet, in any way shape or form, but those are the facts. Our whole idea of humans coming over 13,000 years ago, shot to smithereens. Some kids were already here. I like how they left their mark. It reminds me of a few cement driveways I've known.
posted by tom @ 9:19 PM
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